Residency

Residency issues are reported to the Superintendent’s office by various people - community members, staff members, administrators, bus drivers, postal employees, etc. Once a question of residency has been received, we follow these procedures:​

The appropriate school is contacted and all forms provided to prove residency within the student’s file are requested. As you can see from the documents below, all students upon registering in our district must provide official documents in order to prove that their legal residence is North Smithfield.

Once the requested documents are received and reviewed, a residency letter (template attached) is sent via certified mail/return receipt requested and regular US Mail to the parent/guardian. The appropriate building administrator is copied as well as the North Smithfield Police Department. NSPD will provide us with assistance should further investigation above and beyond what the school department can conduct to determine residency. This letter requires the parent/guardian to contact the Superintendent’s office to schedule a meeting.

The parent/guardian is required to bring official documentation from the checklist contained within the letter to the meeting in order to prove they legally reside within North Smithfield and, if needed, documentation such as a custody order to prove that they are the legal guardians of the child(ren) living in the household and attending North Smithfield Public Schools.

The parent/guardian must also provide a notarized residency affidavit (attached) indicating their legal residence and their child’s name.

The Superintendent meets with the parent/guardian individually where the documentation provided is reviewed. If the documentation meets the criteria of our policy and R.I. General Laws, the student is approved to continue attending our schools. Should the documentation not meet the criteria, the parent is notified that their child must be withdrawn from our district and enrolled in the district in which they reside.

Please be assured that our district investigates every valid report or question of residency that arises. Weunderstand that this is an important issue and we have instituted stringent procedures that are followed in orderto address any issues of residency within North Smithfield.